Forbidden Fruit

Stories and Additions

     "Uhh that's a little hard to explain at the moment. Can we come over?" He says nervously and Chloe nods rapidly at me though that was already my answer.

      "Of course you can, bean."

      "Good." He says and I hear the sound of doors opening in the background. "Because we're in your driveway." And the line goes dead. Chloe and I stare at each other in confusion before we scramble off the bed and put more clothes on before we head downstairs, the door bell ringing loudly about halfway down.

     I get to the door first and swing it open to reveal a tired looking James and Cody who are wearing the same clothes that they had on when they left last night. Cody's eyes are red rimmed behind his glasses and his cheeks are rubbed raw. James is slouched tiredly as he leans against the door frame.

     "Hey guys whats up?" I ask and Cody finally makes eye contact with me and shuffles from foot to foot and as he does, I notice brown curly hair sticking out behind him. Cody sighs and walks into the house as I hold the door open and behind him is a small boy with curly hair and chocolate skin that I've never seen before a day in my life. James follow the duo in and they all start walking to the living room while Chloe and I just stand there stunned.

    Shaking my head in confusion, I follow the three to the living room with Chloe close behind me and find them all sitting together on the couch, the little boy sitting between our friends. We sit down on the couch opposite and wait for them to explain.

     It's Cody that speaks up first to my surprise. "Chloe, Alex I would like for you to meet Jonah, he'll be living with us for a bit. He just turned seven last month." He says and my eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Cody looks down at Jonah as if stressed on how to move forward and I make a decision.

     "Chloe why don't you get Jonah something to eat." I tell him and lean in to whisper. "I'll fill you in later."

    He nods and gets up with a warm smile to walk towards Jonah and the kid instantly whimpers and leans into Cody. "It's okay, Jonah, Chloe is my best friend, you'll be okay." He soothes and he slowly stands up to take my Mate's outstretched hand and the two of them disappear from the room.

     "He was abused." I say blankly not even asking, recognizing the signs from when James and I met and grew up together. He sighs and looks up at me with tired helpless eyes.

     "We couldn't walk away, Alex. You know we know how it feels to be beat down. We couldn't just leave the kid." He says and his head falls into his hands.

    "I'm not judging you, James. Just tell me what happened."

     Cody scratches the back of his head and starts. "After we left yesterday, James and I were going to get ice cream from my favorite place downtown. We were heading out the store when we heard someone yelling, and when we looked over Jonah was getting slapped by his dad and his hair got yanked before he was shoved into a brick wall. A brick wall, Alex!" He says, voice cracking. "He looked so scared and when he made eye contact with me, just couldn't walk away. James fought the man off the kid and subdued him while I held Jonah and called the police."

     There's a pause as he sniffles and I watch how distraught he is as tears fall down his cheeks and James is shaking, no doubt reliving some buried memories.

     "When the cops got there, they arrested the dad and we followed them to the station to make sure he got to a safe home but... his dad was the only family left. No aunts or uncles or anything.  They were going to give him to the system. When the cops tried to take him away from my lap Jonah cried and fought and screamed until they let him be. And I knew we had to take him in. At first they said no but when James pulled the Alpha and Luna card they finally agreed." He finishes and James looks up to stare at me, his own eyes red form exhaustion as well as tears.

     "And now we're here." He says and I nod my head as they wait for me to answer.

    "And now you're here. And he is too. The only thing we can do is welcome him and give him what the rest of us never had. A home and family." I tell them and Cody begins sobbing in relief as James grabs him up and pulls him into his lap.

     "I know you're busy with the twins but we're going to need your help. We don't know what we're doing." James confesses and looks at me so lost and fearful of fucking up like the ones before us.

    "Of course we'll help. Every single one of us will.  We're not just your friends we're your family. Everyone claims it takes a village to raise a child, it just looks like our little village has gotten started early." I tell them and I can physically feel the tension leave their bodies. I let them have a moment and get up from the couch to check on my pup and our newest addition.

    I find the two of them making sandwiches, enough to feed all of us and the domesticity in the action makes my heart melt looking forward to the future with our own pups. I walk over towards them with a soft smile in the face making sure not to make any sudden movements like I learned before with James, and again with Bri.

    "Hey, Jonah." I say as I come around the counter to stand behind Chloe.

    He looks up from his cheese shyly and waves to me before looking back down.

    "I'm Alex and this is Chloe and we're going to be your new uncles." I tell him and his head snaps up though he only looks at me through his hair.

    "I've never had uncles before." He says softly and his voice is so small and scared it breaks my heart.

   Chloe trembles in my arms a little but for he answers with a small voice of his own. "Well we're honored to be the first."

~~~~~~~~
YAYYYY CODY AND JAMES HAVE A KID. UGH EVERYTHING IS COMING TOGETHER SO PERFECTLY NOW. I'm getting more and more convinced this book will definitely be done by next week.

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